


paralleled

by biDEMONium



Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Closeted Character, Coming Out, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Hurt Ben Arnold, Hurt Sammy Stevens, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Who is Sammy Stevens?, abrupt ending oops sorry, aka the one where sammy sees those words a little sooner, aka when emily's just gone missing and ben's a little desperate, also emily but she's not a huge focus here im sorry, ben's kind of a jerk in this but it's only because he's a mess, but its kinda bad so if anyone wants this concept or wants to do a sequel, by all means, cos im new, god sammy and ben is such a wholesome brotp, just blease tag me in it, look i just wanted this scenario but idk who to prompt in this fandom, not live on air and mostly by choice, not that i was against that plot but you know it's just different here, notebook angst, so i just wrote it, we being me the fandom and sammy, we love him so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:26:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23183989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biDEMONium/pseuds/biDEMONium
Summary: Who is Sammy Stevens?stares up at him from the page, and this time when Sammy confronts Ben, Ben's a little more desperate.
Relationships: Ben Arnold/Emily Potter, Sammy Stevens & Ben Arnold, Sammy Stevens/Jack Wright
Comments: 8
Kudos: 116





	paralleled

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me at @bi-demon-ium on tumblr but nothing's there yet tbh

_Who is Sammy Stevens?_

The words stare up at Sammy accusingly.

Who. Is. Sammy. Stevens?

Sammy hadn’t even meant to see it. The notebook had fallen off the desk, and he’d gone to pick it up but it had fallen open on this page, and— _Who is Sammy Stevens?_

There were scribbled notes and smudged lines connecting different things together. _Shotgun Sammy?_ was circled.

The words passed in a blur.

_—came out of nowhere—_

_—big city—why here—_

_—does he know more than he lets on?_

_—the rainbow lights’ first abduction—_

_—why did he come here?_

But Sammy’s eyes kept going back to those bolded letters.

_Who is Sammy Stevens?_

Ben… Ben _really_ thought…?

“Hey, man, I’m going to head o—”

Ben had just walked into the office, sounding tired like he always has since Emily was taken, when he stops dead in his tracks, seeing Sammy holding the notebook in shaking hands.

“Who is Sammy Stevens?” Sammy read out loud, with a calm he didn’t feel.

“You looked in my notebook?!” Ben demanded, stepping forward to snatch it away.

“It fell on the floor,” Sammy said tightly, “And I was putting it back. I wouldn’t have read it without your permission, it was just by chance I saw the _huge fucking bolded letters_ about how you _don’t trust me.”_

Ben’s tired eyes looked a little wild as he ripped the notebook from Sammy’s hands. “I want to trust you, Sammy,” he bit out, “But I have to look at _all_ angles. Emily’s _gone,_ she’s _gone,_ she was taken by those _fucking_ rainbow lights, and I have to look into every single goddamn angle. No one is safe, no one gets a free pass, and you—you showed up out of _nowhere,_ Sammy!”

“You really think I would ever, _ever_ hurt Emily? Or Tim? Or _anyone?”_ Sammy demanded. “Really?”

“I think maybe I don’t know you at all,” Ben said, breathing a little hard, “I don’t _know._ You don’t _ever_ talk about your past, about why you moved here in the first place, I know almost _nothing_ about you!”

“We’re _best friends_!” Sammy shouted back. “I don’t like—I’m a private person, what, that means I’m in league with fucking alien kidnappers?”

“I don’t _know!”_ Ben said, haggard but defiant, an air of desperation to his voice. “I don’t _want_ to believe that, I—but I don’t _know._ And I can’t risk—I can’t risk _anything,_ okay, she’s—she’s _gone,_ Sammy. I have to look into everything. _Everything.”_

“Even your best friend?” Sammy said quietly, angrily. “You honestly think I have something to do with this? That I ever could?”

He was just repeating himself and he knew it but the pain, the _pain_ of knowing his own best friend thought that he could do this, could hurt Emily, could take her away like Ja—

No.

“Maybe,” Ben said, and he looked a little more uncertain, but he stood his ground. “You came out of nowhere. You were a successful bigshot radio host in the city, and you came _here._ Why?”

“You want to know, Ben? You really want to fucking know?” Sammy asked, chest tight and burning and furiously blinking back hot tears.

“ _Yes!”_ Ben shouted.

“I’m looking for my missing fiancé, okay? Are you _happy?_ Is that what you—what you wanted to hear? I’m not here on some crazy agenda to hurt people, and I’m not _taking_ people, and I’d never—I’d never hurt Emily, or Tim, or _you._ I was just looking for—for someone I _love._ Someone who was taken, like Emily, and _fuck you_ for thinking I would do that to anyone, let alone my _best. fucking. friend_. _”_

Ben was shocked, notebook slack in his grip.

He hadn’t expected—this. He hadn’t known what to expect, if he ever confronted Sammy at all.

But he certainly hadn’t expected the _pain_ in his best friend’s voice, the hurt in his eyes too real for it to be a lie.

A fiancé. Fuck.

“That’s why I came to King Falls,” Sammy said, stepping back and deflating a little like all the fight had just drained out of him. “Are you happy now?”

“You… why didn’t you tell me?” Ben asked. He felt numb. Shocked. Like he was suddenly standing on shaky ground.

The world rearranged itself around him. Sammy Stevens, his best friend, had a fiancé. A fiancé that was missing, that he was looking for in King Falls. Ever since they’d met, Sammy had been suffering the loss of someone he loved, and now—

Oh, it all clicked now, didn’t it, in that awful and terrible way.

Emily had been taken from Ben, but Sammy had already lost someone before that. He had to be reliving that all over again, and now Ben had—had accused him of—

“Oh, Jack-in-the-Box Jesus,” he said softly, defeatedly. “Fuck. Fuck, Sammy, I’m sorry.”

Sammy looked caught between anger and pain and understanding.

“I didn’t tell you for—a lot of reasons.”

“I would have helped,” Ben said helplessly. “I—this whole time, Sammy? Why didn’t you tell me when Emily—” he choked up, cutting himself off.

“It’s not about me,” Sammy said finally. “And… for god’s sake, Ben, I know you’re hurting. Believe me, I _know.”_

And that holds a whole new gravity now, doesn’t it?

“But this—this obsession—”

“I’m going to bring her back,” Ben said firmly, “That’s not—that’s not up for debate.”

“Of course not,” Sammy said. “God, of course not. But please, just… let me in. You don’t have to do this alone.”

“Like you did?” Benny said. His voice was quiet and a little challenging.

“Do as I say, not as I do,” Sammy said weakly. “Maybe I’m a hypocrite, but—”

“You are,” Ben said, but it wasn’t angry. “You—I’ll make you a deal. I’ll let you in on the whole… notebook thing, okay? There are still some things I think might be best kept more secret, but—I won’t be sneaky about it, and I’ll stop—”

“Suspecting your friends of kidnapping?”

“—yeah,” Ben said sheepishly. “That. I mean, I didn’t—I didn’t think you’d actually do that, but I just… the connections, and there were so many unanswered questions, still _are_ so many unanswered questions—not that I have any doubt left in my mind that you didn’t… I mean, you get it—and I just… I’m desperate, man. I had to look into everything, even crazy things, okay, I just. I need to find her. I’m lost without her, Sammy, I just… I need her back.”

“I get it,” Sammy said hoarsely. “I really do. Just please don’t do it again.”

“I won’t,” Ben promised. “But the point is, I’ll let you in on more of this notebook stuff, and in return—tell me about your fiancé. Let me help you find her.”

Sammy stared at him for a long, long second, an unreadable look in his eyes.

Then he ducked his head.

“Him,” he whispered.

“…What?”

“Him,” he repeated, louder this time, still refusing to look up at Ben. “My fiancé—his name is Jack. He went missing, and he… he was obsessed with this place right before he disappeared, so after a few months I… I followed him here. I’ve been looking for him but I don’t even know where to start.”

Ben was quiet, and Sammy didn’t dare look up.

Then there was the slight sound of footsteps, and Ben’s arms wrapped around him.

Sammy stiffened in surprise, but Ben just clutched him tighter.

“We’ll find him,” Ben promised. “We’ll find him, Sammy, and we’ll find Emily, and we’ll bring them both back home safely, okay?”

Sammy finally unfroze and hugged him back, hesitant but after a moment melting into it.

“I’ve never told anyone that,” he mumbled into Ben’s shoulder, “Even like that, not really.”

“Told anyone what?” Ben asked, pulling away slightly to look at him.

“That I’m…”

Sammy swallowed.

“You can say it, if you like,” Ben said softly. “You don’t have to.”

“That I’m gay,” Sammy said, and then gasped a little like he’d been holding his breath, the tears that had been stinging his eyes leaking out a little. “I mean, we were going to tell, when we got engaged, but we hadn’t—we had our jobs to think about, and only Lily knew and it’s not like my parents were talking to me anymore but—I’ve never actually told anyone before. Jack is the one who told Lily, and Jack found out about—me—by accident, so I’ve never…”

“I’m honored, buddy,” Ben said, rubbing his back in soothing circles like he was trying to calm Sammy as he began to shake harder.

“I wanted to tell you sooner,” Sammy said, almost babbling now, “I did, I’ve thought about it so much, but then with Jack, and he’s been missing so long, and you have enough on your plate to deal with without my bullshit, and I’m a _coward,_ Ben, I’m so _fake_ and I’ve been trying, I swear I have, but it’s not good enough and I’m no closer to getting him back than I was when I got here, and I didn’t want to distract you from what matters or make it about me or burden you with my problems, but then I just deprived you of knowing that someone _understood,_ but I was scared of how you’d react, which is so stupid because I know you’re not like that but I also know I don’t—don’t deserve—”

“You stop right there, Sammy,” Ben said, “You deserve support, too, you’ve been—Jack-in-the-Box Jesus, Sammy, you’ve been giving me non-stop support with Emily’s disappearance, and you had _this_ going on, too—”

“And now I’m making this all about _me,”_ Sammy practically wailed, breathless and why couldn’t he stop _talking,_ “This isn’t about me, this is about you and _Emily_ and—“

“You’re allowed to suffer too, man,” Ben said, frustrated and emotional, “We’re in this _together._ I just wish you’d _told_ me.”

Sammy sniffled slightly like he was trying not to cry.

“But I understand why you didn’t,” Ben said. “I don’t… _agree._ But I understand, and I don’t blame you at all, okay, not one _bit._ But we’re in this together now, okay?”

“We always were,” Sammy said, “Even if—even if this hadn’t happened, I’m always on your side, Ben, okay? You’re my best fucking friend, even if you’re an idiot sometimes. I—I love you, man.”

“I love you, too, Sammy,” Ben said, and he pulled Sammy back into a hug. “And for the record, I’m not the only idiot here.”

**Author's Note:**

> the prompt i found i'd scribbled myself in the middle of the night:
> 
> au where sammy sees the “who is sammy stevens?” notebook page a lot sooner than in canon on accident, and when he confronts ben about it instead of being guilty ben’s still kinda in that desperate looking for any and all connections phase so he just pushes right back, he’s like _who are you really, sammy, you refuse to talk about your past, you came out of nowhere from the big city, who are you,_ and sammy snaps _do you really want to know why i came here, do you really want to know_ and ben’s like _hell yeah i do_ and sammy’s like _i’m looking for my missing fiancé, okay? h—my fiancé went missing while heading for this stupid town and i followed the trail and fuck you for thinking i would ever inflict that on anyone else, let alone my best. fucking. friend._
> 
> god i want someone to write this exact same prompt but like, way better. please. i'm begging you. someone actually talk more about him coming out and like, the parallels, and how they're feeling, and just everything, because i'm not skilled enough. i'm more the idea guy than anything. bls


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